9 Things Pro-Life Advocates Can Actually Do To Fight For The Lives Of Children

As a pro-choice advocate and a woman who's had an abortion, I'm no stranger to the persistence of the pro-life movement (also known as the anti-choice movement). Pro-life advocates — from friends to family members to strangers on the internet — haven't shied away from telling me abortion should be outlawed because of "babies and children and the sanctity of life." I've endured the repercussions of attaching morality to a legal medical procedure I had (and continue to have) the right and choice to make for myself and my body. Though I am outspoken when it comes to how I feel about the pro-life movement and the things they get wrong, I also know there are things pro-life advocates canactuallydo to fight for the lives of children; tangible things that will actually protect "babies and children and the sanctity of life."

Because if you really care about babies and children and the "sanctity of life," here are ways you can actually help that have nothing to do with policing women's bodies and their access and right to safe, effective, and personal reproductive healthcare:

Aid The Reported 15 Million Children Living In Poverty In The United States

If you value not only the life of a child, but the quality of life that child will live, you can donate to your local homeless shelter. Of course, you can also take it a step further and donate to organizations working tirelessly to combat the homeless epidemic across the country, including the National Alliance To End Homelessness.

House Or Donate To The Reported 8,000 Syrian Refugees Admitted To The United States (So Far)

If you truly care about the lives of children, regardless of their circumstances, you can donate to the International Rescue Committee, currently working to save Syrian refugee families across the country. (Your donations are 100 percent secure and tax deductible, according to their website.)

Legislate For Common Sense Gun Laws That Could Save An Estimated 17,383 American Children Every Year

There are children — living, breathing, struggling-to-survive children — who need the passion, advocacy, and relentlessness of the pro-life movement. Those children need your "moral high ground," need your emboldened pleas for people to think of the babies and the kids and the potential lives "lost," and need the same amount of effort many put towards attempting to strip Planned Parenthood of its federal funding.

If you want to help children and care about their futures, you can donate your time, money, or any books you have laying around your own home. With Save The Children, you can become the sponsor of a child. You can also donate to the First Book Marketplace, which give books to children in low-income homes.

Aid The Reported 5 Million Children Who Witness Domestic Violence Each Year In The United States

The CDV lists numerous ways an individual can work to combat the epidemic of domestic violence. You can donate directly to CVD to, according to their website, "aid education and awareness initiatives." You can also "volunteer your time, host a community fundraiser, partner to scale the solutions, start a chapter, or join the dialogue and help build awareness on our social channels."

There are different requirements to becoming a foster parent, depending on where you live. You can look up what it takes to become a foster parent via Transitions Children's Services (TCS) or, if you don't believe foster care is the right life choice for you, donate to extend their services and provide transitional care for children who phase out of the foster care system.

Donate So That 5,000 Children Under 5 Don't Die Every Day From Unclean Drinking Water

The numbers can be numbing, but they represent real lives, of real children. Every child is important. Every child has the right to health, the right to survive, the right to a future that is as good as we can make it. If, in the development community, we are not looking daily at the faces of little children, we will miss the mark by a considerable distance.

There truly are so many places to donate, ways to give your time and energy, and pieces of legislation to advocate for in order to truly protect the sanctity of life. There are children — living, breathing, struggling-to-survive children — who need the passion, advocacy, and relentlessness of the pro-life movement. Those children need your "moral high ground," need your emboldened pleas for people to think of the babies and the kids and the potential lives "lost," and need the same amount of effort many put towards attempting to strip Planned Parenthood of its federal funding.

If those part of the pro-life movement donated to any of the aforementioned organizations, they could help more than 50 million children. If they continue to focus their time, money, efforts, and energy to ending abortion and reproductive care, they'll put an estimated 157 million women (the number of women currently living in the United States) in danger.